Garmin Nuvi 765T review

Garmin has one of the largest ranges in the satnav business, as befits its long standing.

The Nuvi 765T is the company's latest widescreen model with full European maps. It has a 4.3in display and includes a RDS-TMC traffic update receiver. This involves routing an unsightly antenna around the edge of your windscreen. At least this attaches to the screen cradle, as does the power connection, so docking the 765T is all you need to do before heading off.

The Nuvi 765T follows a number of the latest satnav trends. It has three-dimensional models courtesy of the City Navigator Europe NT 2009 3D database. As with Navman's and Navigon's versions, only major metropolitan landmarks such as St Paul's or Wembley Stadium are included. It also provides lane guidance, with an eye-catching arrow graphic.

The main interface is particularly streamlined. The starting screen offers just two main options: entering a destination or viewing the map. Destination entry includes the usual suspects, plus the ability to navigate to a map coordinate and define custom routes. The Tools section includes a few extra widgets, such as a media player, picture viewer, foreign language guide, calculator and unit converter.

The map view is clean-looking, with appropriate use of bright colours and a night mode, although the latter is controlled by time of day and not a light sensor. The information along the bottom can be customised. One highlight is the ability to call up a trip meter, which records a host of useful information about distance covered and how much time has been spent stationary. Avoiding blocked roads or traffic jams is remarkably easy, with just a few screen clicks necessary to tell the device to route round various lengths of road.

The 765T has an easy-to-use interface, with a far better menu design than TomTom's. It's also cheaper than TomTom's Go 740 Live, but its features are more run of the mill; paying the extra for the TomTom Go 740 Live's extra services is money well spent.